Gender Differences in the Influence of Faculty–Student Mentoring Relationships on Satisfaction with College among African Americans

Abstract

Prior research has focused on mentoring as a concept and its role in facilitating the personal and professional success of business leaders, faculty members, and graduate students in general, without giving equal attention to the influence of mentoring on outcomes among Black undergraduate students. Using CSEQ data from 653 African American collegians, we found that although Black men report more frequent engagement than women in both formal and informal relationships with their faculty mentors; gender neither yields a statistically significant influence on satisfaction with college, controlling for confounding effects, nor mediates the influence of mentoring on Black students' satisfaction with college. Implications for future policy, practice, and research are discussed in light of critical issues in higher education.

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“…As such, the findings are consistent with past mentoring researchers who have noted that the mentoring relationship was key to a mentee's growth and professional fulfillment and satisfaction (Allen & Eby, 2004;Barker, 2006;Haggard & Turban, 2012;Strayhorn & Saddler, 2009). Often times, counselor education mentors move between various roles when working with students and other faculty mentees.…”

Having Their Lives Narrowed Down? The State of Black Women’s College Success

“…This body of research (38 of 119 studies, 32%) highlighted Black women's relationships with faculty (Cokley, 2000;D. Cole, 2008;Gallien & Peterson, 2004;Kobrak, 1992;Lee, 1999;Lundberg & Schreiner, 2004;Patton, 2009;Strayhorn & Saddler, 2009), peers (Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002; A. E. Lewis, Chesler & Forman, 2000;Littleton, 2003;Martinez Alemán, 2000;Patton, 2009;Sims, 2008), and family (Guiffrida, 2005b;Herndon & Hirt, 2004;Winkle-Wagner, 2009a). Some of the studies in this area have highlighted African American women as educational success stories (Banks, 2009;Freeman, 1999;Fries-Britt & Griffin, 2007;Fries-Britt & Holmes, 2012;Fries-Britt & Turner, 2002;Griffin, 2006), pointing out complex relationships within that role.…”

“…Student-faculty relationships have been evidenced to provide either an aid or an obstruction to success for Black women (Gallien & Peterson, 2004;Lee, 1999;Lundberg & Schreiner, 2004;Patton, 2009;Strayhorn & Saddler, 2009;Suarez-Balcazar, Orellana-Damacela, Portillo, Rowan, & Andrews-Guillen, 2003). The lack of a positive faculty-student relationship can be detrimental to students' success.…”

“…The importance of positive academic mentors cannot be underscored enough for Black women (D. Cole, 2008;Strayhorn & Saddler, 2009). In Patton's (2009) qualitative study with African American women, many of the participants used familial terms such as mothering in order to refer to the importance of their African American female mentors.…”

“…Although the importance of positive faculty-student interactions is highlighted in the literature, these studies either examine generalizable descriptions of the amount and kinds of interactions that students have with faculty (e.g., Strayhorn & Saddler, 2009) or are qualitative studies of students' experiences of mentoring (D. Cole, 2008;Patton, 2009). There are few depictions of within-group differences in mentoring needs among African American women.…”